His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum to open the Middle East's longest running annual oil conference

The Official Opening will be followed by Ministerial Address from H.E. Mohamed bin Dhaen Al-Hamli, Minister of Energy, Ministry of Energy, UAE and Keynote Address from Dr. Samir Al Tubayyeb, Executive Director, Employee Relations & Training, Saudi Aramco & Chairman, Saudi Aramco Total Refining Company, Jubail, Saudi Arabia and Ambassador Richard H. Jones, Deputy Executive Director of International Energy Agency.

MPGC which is widely acclaimed for facilitating high-quality information exchange, intellectual debate and outstanding networking opportunities, has been held annually in the Gulf since 1993, with national oil companies in the region vying to host the event. Dubai holds the record for hosting MPGC seven times, in its seventeen year history.

The conference will be held under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and hosted by the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) LLC.

MPGC 2009 is expected to bring together oil industry leaders, visionaries, senior decision makers and government officials to debate and discuss underscored by the theme, "Navigating through the Pitfalls: Demand Uncertainty, Financial Crises, and Price Volatility." MPGC is the flagship event of Middle East Petroleum & Gas Week (MEOW), which will run from April 18 to 23 with other workshops, briefings, and conferences.

MPGC 2009 speakers will include Mr. Saeed Khoory, Group Chief Executive, Emirates National Oil Company Limited (ENOC) LLC, Dubai, UAE, Mr. Majid Jafar, Executive Director, Crescent Petroleum, Sharjah, UAE and Mr. Pierre Barbe, President, Trading & Shipping, TOTAL, France plus CEOs and top executives from several international and regional oil companies including, ENOC, Saudi Aramco, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, the Bahrain Petroleum Co., RAK Petroleum BP, StatoilHydro, Chevron, and many more.

Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki, Chairman of FACTS Global Energy, leading oil industry advisors for the Middle East and Asia, who will chair MPGC 2009 said,

"Never before has the oil market faced such a predicament, weak demand, low prices and high EPC costs have resulted in major excess production capacity in OPEC and a huge refining capacity surplus. There are worries about the timing of the recovery and how to navigate these exceptionally difficult times. MPGC 2009 is held at the right time to discuss and debate the realistic options to navigate through this difficult environment."

Key decisions makers, including senior management from national oil companies, the oil majors, trading groups and independents, policy makers and financial institutions, from over 50 countries are expected to attend both MPGC and the Middle East Petroleum and Gas Week events. In addition to nearly 60 oil industry experts, who participate as speakers, chairmen and course leaders.

MPGC and the Middle East Petroleum & Gas Week 2009 events are being organized by The Conference Connection Inc and hosted by ENOC, who will also host the gala conference dinner on April 20 2009, MPGC enjoys outstanding energy industry support from corporate sponsors including Chevron, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, ExxonMobil, Fortis Bank Nederland, RAK Petroleum, Rais Hassan Saadi & Co., Saudi Aramco, Tropicana Trading DMCC, Vitol, with Khaleej Times and Oil and Gas Journal as official publications.